The Week in Yoga: Lou Reed’s Forgotten Album, Meditating in the End Zone, and Cues You’ve Probably Never Heard Before
Where yoga was in the world this week.
Author
YJ Editors
Yoga Journal’s editorial team has provided inspiration and instruction to those who want to learn about the practice and philosophy of yoga since 1975.
The California Yoga Teachers Association founded Yoga Journal and brought on Judith Hanson Lasater as one of the first editors. Throughout the years, Yoga Journal has shared insights and explanations from experts in various aspects of the tradition of yoga through the support of thousands of yoga teachers, writers, editors, and photographers. We continue to report on the ways in which yoga has evolved to serve differing communities who come together for the same practice and how yoga supports you in all aspects of your everyday life.
My Stories
Feel Like You’re Failing Your New Year’s Intentions? Here Are 5 Ways to Get Unstuck
Check out Roberta Paixao Cortes's author page.
How to Create Your Best New Year, According to Ayurveda
Starting the New Year on the right foot is less about big, lofty goals, and more about small, everyday changes.
The 10 Books We Couldn’t Put Down This Year
They reminded us that something doesn’t need to talk about yoga to actually be about yoga.
Our 15 Most-Read Articles in 2023
The stretches, self-revelations, and sillinesses that resonated with you.
What the Latest Yoga Statistics Reveal About Us
For one thing, we need to work harder on access for everyone.
Traveling During the Holidays? Here’s How to Keep Your Sanity Intact.
Yes, you can take it with you.
Why A 10-Minute Morning Meditation Is Essential to Your Day, According to Science
Sitting quietly doesn't have to be woo woo or even a struggle. Here's how it can make a difference for you—starting today.
6 Common Misconceptions About Meditation (And Why They’re Just Not True)
It's not as complicated as you think.
5 Best Hip Stretches That Every Athlete Needs to Know
Improve hip mobility with these yoga-inspired positions.
Why Yoga Is For Everyone | A Celebration of National Yoga Month
Each of us moving, breathing, and becoming more and more aware of ourselves. Separately yet together. That is yoga.
How to Stretch Your Lower Back in 10 Minutes—Without Standing Up
Sometimes less is more.
What Exactly Is Self-Care? These Not-So-Obvious Answers Will Surprise You.
It's simple. Self-care is anything that helps you feel more like, well, you.
10-Minute Yoga Practices for Your Every Need
Because some yoga is always better than no yoga.
Yin Yoga for Your Every Need (Seriously)
Essential practices for unprecedented release from tension of any sort.
Everything You Need to Know About Practicing Sun Salutations
As you practice this ancient tradition for summer solstice, it's helpful to recall that movement is exercise. But movement with awareness is yoga.
The Ultimate Guide to Finding, Taking, or Planning a Yoga Retreat
Whatever you need from your getaway, you'll find it here.
How Yoga Contributes to Fitness For All
You don't have to be young or bendy, athletic or strong, woo-woo or meditative to benefit from yoga. Here's how you can avail yourself of its many benefits at any age.
Do You Know Your Sleep Language? Here’s Why Understanding It Will Ensure Better Rest.
Perhaps even the best rest of your life.
Women Who Inspire Our Practice
These are a few of the people we turn to when we need to be reminded of the true meaning of yoga.
Yoga Poses to Help You Balance Your Chakras
Say hello to more creativity, confidence, and calm.
The Yoga Teacher Who Brought Yoga to Our Living Rooms Decades Before Online Yoga Was a Thing
Lilias Folan shared the practice on PBS long before there was Zoom.
Is ChatGPT Coming for Your Yoga Practice?
Our experts asked the AI tool to generate a yoga class. Did it hold up?
How to Do Seated Forward Bend: The Complete Guide for Students and Teachers
Yes, it is possible to find a tension-less experience of this stretch. Here's everything you need to know.
Ask the Teacher: Am I Ready to Try Headstand?
Short answer: There's no need to rush things.
Can’t Sleep? Try These 5 Yoga Poses for Insomnia That Are Backed By Science.
Even 5 minutes of decompressing can make sleep less elusive.
Bird of Paradise Pose
Bird of Paradise Pose, called Svarga Dvijasana in Sanskrit, builds confidence in the mind and body while improving balance, boosting energy, and fighting fatigue.
The 10 Books We Couldn’t Put Down This Year
These reads illustrate how a book doesn't have to talk about yoga to be about yoga.
10-Minute Yoga for When You Desperately Need It (But Don’t Have Time)
Just because you can't slip away to class doesn't mean you need to skip your practice.
Yoga Teachers, Are You Making These 4 Common Yoga Sequencing Mistakes?
The last thing you want is for students to leave your class feeling depleted, ungrounded, or on edge. Here's how to ensure that doesn't happen.
A Quieting Yin Yoga Practice for Longer, Darker, More Challenging Days
When fatigue and frustration settle in, perhaps it's time to pause and come back to yourself.
The 12 Articles You Couldn’t Get Enough Of In 2022
The expert advice, glimpses into others' lives, and everyday solutions that kept you clicking and talking throughout the year.
How to Do Cobra Pose: The Complete Guide for Students and Teachers
It's so much more than a beginner backbend.
These 7 Videos Will Help You Nail Chaturanga
YouTube yoga teachers show you how to develop strength and alignment for this challenging pose.
This Is the Most Underrated Yoga Pose for Core-Strengthening
Tired of Boat Pose? Then you need to try Lolasana.
How to Do Triangle Pose: The Complete Guide for Students and Teachers
Feels so much harder than it looks, doesn't it?
Tight Hamstrings? These Are the Stretches You Need
If you run, hike, bike, ski, walk, or sit, you have tight hamstrings. Here's how to remedy that.
How to Do Eagle Pose: The Complete Guide for Students and Teachers
Garudasana is never easy. But with these instructions, prep poses, and variations, you will find it easier.
How to Do Warrior 1 Pose: The Complete Guide for Students and Teachers
The most challenging of the Warrior poses, Virabhadrasana I requires what can feel like completely contradictory alignment in your body. Here's everything you need to know to find strength as well as ease in the posture.
How to Calm Down in Any Situation (Yes, Really)
A look at the science and the strategies that work.
How to Do Downward-Facing Dog Pose: The Complete Guide for Students and Teachers
Yes, you know the basic shape of Down Dog. But do you understand the subtle awarenesses that will help you maximize strength and minimize strain?
How to Do Mountain Pose: The Complete Guide for Students and Teachers
Standing in Tadasana seems so simple. Here's how to focus your awareness and adjust your body so you get the most from the foundational yoga pose.
A 30-Minute Yoga Practice to Jump-Start Your Day
A full-body strengthening and stretching practice that allows you to get your yoga fix, your workout, your breathing practice, and your creative jolt all in a single session.
Can’t Sleep? Here’s Everything You Need to Know
The solution may be less complicated than you think.
A Yoga Sequence for an Open Heart
Support your practice of asteya, non-stealing, with poses that help you feel open and expansive.
15-Minute Yoga Practices For Your Every Need
Sorta ironic that the days you need yoga the most are usually the days when there's not time. These practices ensure you get your fix, whether strengthening or stretching, energizing or soothing.
Ask the Teacher: Can I Practice Yoga for Pain Relief?
Your yoga session may help ease the aches in your body—but not in the ways you may expect.
Week 4 of National Yoga Awareness Month: Settling Into Calm
Throughout September, we'll be sharing insights and practices regarding all the many obvious and subtle ways that yoga teaches us. First up: How to be flexible in body and mind.
17 Ways to Use (and Not Use) Your Yoga Mat That Don’t Include Your Practice
Following the news that an airline handed out yoga mats, not hotel vouchers, to stranded passengers, we started to consider some uncommon uses for your most trusted prop.
What National Yoga Awareness Month Means to Us—And to You
In celebration of National Yoga Awareness Month, we're launching IG Live classes with our favorite teachers beginning Tuesday, September 6th. Come and be reminded of the many reasons why yoga is your "thing."
10 Things We’d Like The New Yorker to Understand About Yoga
The magazine’s satirical article about “yoga challenges” holds some truths—but not the ones the editors probably intended.
Ask the Teacher: What Yoga Poses Are Safe for People with Glaucoma?
How to protect students' eyes during yoga practice.
How to Stay Safe While Practicing Hot Yoga
Take the right precautions to face the extreme temperatures of a hot yoga class
What Is Pranayama?
Exploring the ancient practice of breath control in yoga.
8 Yoga Poses for Exponentially Better Sleep—Beginning Tonight
Because sometimes settling down takes more than a dark room and chamomile tea.
A 20-Minute Yoga Practice to Jump-Start Your Day
Know you're not going to have time for a full class? Sneak this strengthening sequence into your morning instead.
10 Cooling Yoga Poses That Help You Handle the Heat
Sometimes you need to cool down from within.
Gate Pose
Extend some love to your oft-neglected side body even as you prep for standing poses based on the same shape.
Who’s Who in “The Future of Yoga”?
A glimpse at the teachers, leaders, activists, and other visionaries who are shaping tomorrow's yoga community.
Want to Ease Anxiety? Tell Yourself a Different Story and Invite in the Light
Anxiety coach Amanda Higgins shows us how to find peace in our own narratives; Maria Margolies turns to the holistic universe to invite in grace and love.
Ruchika Lal Leads a Yoga Class With Deep Indian Roots
In the hustle and rush of your morning routine, take time for a yoga session with a taste of India.
Practice With Us: Solstice in Times Square Yoga with Neeti Narula
Yes, the most chaotic place on the planet is exactly the right place for yoga.
Practice for Peace: An Online Yoga and Meditation Class to Help Children with Cancer in Ukraine
Several organizations are uniting and reminding us how to turn intention into action.
Ask the Teacher: When Not to Invert?
It's not safe for everyone to practice inversions—and the reason has nothing to do with falling down. Here are those instances in which you might want to keep your feet on the ground.
Feeling Scattered? These 8 Seated Yoga Poses Will Help You Find Focus
Perhaps the solution to sustained attention is to stop trying so hard. Science supports this approach.
8 Ways to Deepen (Almost) Any Yoga Pose
When it comes to practicing postures, patience is essential.
When You Want to Sit It Out, Try This Chair Yoga Practice
You can fit it in anywhere.
30-Minute Yoga Sequence to Reset Your Day
Sometimes you need to challenge your body in order to quiet your mind.
How “Soften Your Low Ribs Down” Helps Protect Your Low Back
Ever follow a cue from a teacher but wonder why? Our experts have the answer.
11 Yoga Poses to Unlock the Deep Hip Opening Your Body Is Craving
Loosen up those tight hips—and let go of whatever you’re holding onto—with this short sequence.
YJ Members Share Their Favorite Yoga Trips
Cue the wanderlust.
What You Need to Know About Holi, the “Festival of Colors”
This festive event has a history and culture as colorful as you might imagine.
If You Have Iliotibial Band Syndrome, You Need These 5 Stretches
Clap back at knee and hip pain.
How to Help Ukraine (Because That’s Yoga, Too)
If you've been wanting to do something but nothing feels like enough, here's where to start.
Forearm Plank | Dolphin Plank Pose
A modification of Plank Pose, Forearm Plank strengthens and tones the core, thighs, and arms.
Cow Pose
Bitilasana is an easy, gentle way to warm up the spine before a more vigorous practice.
Cat Pose
How to avoid falling into autopilot while practicing this basic—but beneficial—stretch.
Eight-Angle Pose
Fire up your abs for this difficult asymmetrical arm balance, Eight-Angle Pose.
40 Ways Our Editors and Readers Practice Self-Care
These ideas remind us that it doesn't have to be complicated.
Reverse Plank | Upward Plank Pose
Purvottanasana counteracts the effects of Chaturanga by stretching the pectoralis major, pectoralis minor, and anterior deltoids.